Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
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SAC Learning Activity: The New Deal and Minorities
CONTEXT:
Grade: 11th
Class: AP U.S. History
Time: One 90-minute class period
Topic:
Deepening students’ understanding of the impacts of the New Deal and the Great
Depression on the marginalized populations of the U.S. (Women and Minorities) through
examining competing evidence.
Instructional Model:
This lesson will be taught using the ‘Structured Academic Controversy’ model which
allows students to develop a depend understanding of a controversial issue by looking at
competing evidence and perspectives. In pairs, students will collaboratively analyze evidence on
both sides of an issue, develop an arguments, present their case for and against, and review the
arguments of the opposing side, all in hopes of coming to a group consensus on the issue, or, at
the least, forming a more informed individual opinion.
Overview:
This lesson aims to help students understand the ways in which the New Deal policies
were both a success and a failure for women and minorities within the broader context of the
unsettled issue of the success of the New Deal in achieving its goals. This lesson will be taught
in conjunction with a larger unit on causes and outcomes of the Great Depression and the New
Deal. In this lesson, the teacher will begin by providing introductory material on the New Deal,
what it was and what its goals were, so that students might have proper background knowledge
going into the controversial case issue. Then, students will pair up to review evidence, identify
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Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
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arguments, and take turns presenting a case for and against the resolution “The New Deal was a
success for women and minorities” in order to develop a more informed opinion on the issue.
Rationale:
The Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) model is ideal for teaching this lesson
because it encourages students to wrestle with both sides of this unsettled historically
controversial issue in order to develop a more informed opinion. This model as its name
suggests, naturally lends itself to more controversial issues of which the New Deal is a prime
example, especially considering its impact on minorities. While New Deal programs offered
relief to African-Americans and did much to preserve black culture, it also continued
discrimination policies, in both relief and employment, that had plagued African-American
communities for decades. Considering the varied impact of these programs, trying to determine
its ‘success’ for these marginalized populations almost automatically leads to controversy.
When dealing with a controversial issue, it is important for the teacher to understand that
students will either enter into class with preconceived notions about the topic, incorrect
information, or with no exposure/opinion at all. No matter the case, my goal as a Social Studies
teacher is to have my students look at complicated issues (historical or perennial), understand
their interpretation of the issue based on the evidence at hand, and develop educated position on
that issue. By giving students opportunities to really investigate competing evidence in order to
develop succinct arguments, the SAC model will mandate that students discern what is and is not
compelling evidence. In having students present oral arguments for each side, students will better
be able to internalize the complexities of the issue and develop a more educated opinion on the
topic.
Objectives:
After this lesson, the student will be able to do the following:
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Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
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Academic
1. Understand the goals of New Deal policies and their impact on women and minorities.
(USII.5d, NCSS V)Identify and present arguments for and against the resolution “The New
Deal was a success for women and minorities.” (USII.1c,d; USII.5d: NCSS IVe,g,h, Vf,g)
Intellectual
1. Analyze evidence on a position and synthesize that evidence to respectfully present an
argument for that position.
2. Collaborate in pairs to do research, and to come together as a group to determine the
strongest and weakest arguments for or against a given position.
Assessment:
1. The teacher will informally assess the student’s levels of understanding of the issue at hand
and the validity of his or her arguments by walking around the room and monitoring each
group as they present their arguments.
2. The teacher may also assess the thoroughness of the student’s research/case by collecting the
argument/evidence sheet for a completion grade.
3. The teacher will also assess the level of consensus reached by collecting each student’s
consensus/individual opinion sheet for a completion grade.
CONTENT AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
Perennial Issue: Government policies and their varying impact on different subgroups of a
population.
Case Issue: Did women and minorities actually receive a ‘New Deal’ in the 1930’s?
Prep/Organization:
Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
• Individual desks will be grouped into a block of four, so as to create a block where one pair
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faces another. This arrangement will best facilitate small group discussion.
• The teacher can either inform students as they walk in to find a partner to work with and sit
next to them or can seat students by a predetermined chart to be displayed on the projector.
• Blocks of desks are to be arranged so that each student’s body is perpendicular to the front of
the classroom.
• As per classroom expectations and procedures, students will pick up their materials for today
as they enter the classroom. For this lesson, they will be picking up their Argument/Evidence
sheet as well as their Consensus/Individual Opinion sheet.
Hook/Background Information:
• To lay a foundation of understanding before the groups go into their own research on the
controversy within the New Deal, they will, as a class, watch a video from the popular
CrashCourse series on YouTube titled “The New Deal: Crash Course US History #34”. This
video does a great job of engaging students while explaining what exactly the New Deal was
and what its goals were. It then lays out the degree to which some of its programs were
effective in tackling some of the issues presented by the Great Depression; however, it doe snot
get into the peculiarities of the minority experience in the New Deal.
• The teacher will then introduce the SAC question and go over the norms of the structured
debate model debate model. Norms are to include respectfully listening while the other pair is
presenting their case, tying each argument used with evidence presented on the data sheet,
avoiding asking rhetorical questions during the clarifying questions portion of each round, and
making an attempt to respectfully reach consensus within the group about the strongest
argument found in the evidence.
Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
• Teacher will then go over the structure of each round. A few minutes will be granted to field
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any questions that may not have been covered in the teacher’s description of tasks.
Round 1:
• Teacher will inform each group that the pair on the left will begin by Supporting the resolution
and the pair on the right will follow by Opposing the resolution. The teacher will also inform
students that each member of the pair must present at least one argument during each round.
• Teacher will then pass out to each group an SUPPORT data sheet and a OPPOSE data sheet
• Both pairs students will be given 15 minutes to collaborate with their partners to craft
arguments for their position using the data sheet given.
• After those 15 minutes are up, the pair who SUPPORT with the resolution will go first, and
will have four minutes to present their case.
• After those 4 minutes, the other pair will have two minutes to ask any clarifying questions
they feel are necessary before proceeding with their case.
• When the teacher signals that time for questions is up, the pair who OPPOSE will have four
minutes to present their case.
• After the second group is done, the first will now have two minutes to ask their clarifying
questions.
Round 2:
• At the teacher’s instructions, the pair will switch positions.
• Each pair will now have the same time constraints that were in place during Round 1 and will
present their positions in the same order: SUPPORT first, OPPOSE second.
Group Discussion:
• Each group will now have 10 minutes to attempt to reach a consensus on the strongest/
weakest arguments that were presented in both rounds.
Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
• Each student, on his or her individual Consensus/Individual opinion sheet, will write down
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what position the group ended up siding with, and will summarize what group felt the
strongest argument(s) for that position were.
• At the bottom of that same sheet, the student will be asked whether he or she was convinced
by this argument, and, if so, what convinced them. If he or she was not convinced by this
• argument, or did not side with the consensus reached, he or she will be asked to summarize the
argument that he or she felt was most convincing.
Resources:
• Projector (Promethean board)
• YouTube video: “The New Deal: Crash Course US History #34” (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=6bMq9Ek6jnA)
• SUPPORT data sheet (1 for each pair)
• OPPOSE data sheet (1 for each pair)
• Argument/Evidence graphic organizer (1 per student)
• Consensus/Individual Opinion graphic organizer (1 per student)
Differentiation:
This lesson was designed to reach a diverse set of learners. The lesson begins with
intensive background information on the New Deal in the form of a video. This video does a
good job of conveying important information about the New Deal and the Great Depression in an
engaging audio-visual format, with lots of visual aids (e.g cartoons and graphics) as well as easy
to understand language. By introducing background information on the topic in this way, I hope
to scaffold all learners with a basic understanding of the topic in order to better inform their
research.
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Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
Each selection of evidence was carefully written so as to match the appropriate reading
level of my classes. Graphic organizers have been provided so as to aid students in organizing
their thought in order to better structure an argument and grasp a more complicated issue.
This lesson also has students working in small groups, which is a format that encourages
participation, even by more shy learners, in discussion and research.
Adaptations:
For students with IEPs and 504s, the teacher will arrange partnerships with stronger
students who will be able to aid students with particular needs in research, or a student(s) with
needs will be added onto another pair and will serve as a “research buddy” if that more
appropriately suits his or her ability level.
While the data sheets and graphic organizers have been written to be easy to understand
and with out any technical/complicated terms, the teacher will elaborate on any vocabulary that
needs further definition.
Student who may struggle with understanding rules or norms will be given a written copy
of directions and norms expected for this lesson.
Pre-Reflection:
This lesson will be taught as part of a unit on the Great Depression and the New Deal
and, therefore, students will be provided with plenty of background information on the issues
discussed as well as many opportunities to act on the understanding gained in this lesson.
The each of the materials that the teacher will be providing during the course of this
lesson has been written with the utmost of care so as to be accessible to the greatest number of
students as possible.
The organization of the classroom and pre-lesson preparation has been though out so as
to facilitate this lesson as smoothly as possible.
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Jacob Todd
Structured Academic Controversy
Learning Activity
Being that this lesson is the first SAC lesson done with this group of students this school
year, the level of research required for this lesson has been kept at a minimum in order to provide
a positive first experience. After this lesson is taught, the teacher will reflect on the ability levels
demonstrated by his students with the hope of upgrading data sheets to lengthier documents and
more complicated pieces of evidence.
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“The New Deal was a success for women and minorities.”
SUPPORT Data Sheet
1. Federal relief programs provided employment relief to Blacks and Whites alike. By
1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a major program to hire unskilled
laborers, usually men, for public works projects, employed 350,000 AfricanAmericans. In the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program that hired young people
to work a projects related to developing natural resources, percentage of AfricanAmericans employed rose from 3% in 1933, to over 11% in 1938 with over 350,000
African-Americans having been enrolled in the program by the time it shut down in
1942.
2. Minorities did receive some equality in the work place. The WPA, by far one of the
most significant and ambitious programs of the New Deal, had a non-discriminating
hiring policy. In 1934, The Public Works Administration (PWA) inserted a clause in
all construction contracts that established a quota for hiring African-Americans
according to the 1930 census.
3. By the mid-1930s, nearly forty-five blacks had received appointments to New Deal
agencies. These African-American leaders, led by Mary McLeod Bethune, served as
an informal advisory committee to the Office of the President concerning. This
group of Black political leaders, first known as the Federal Council on Negro Affairs,
became known as the “Black Cabinet” or the “Black Brain Trust”. While AfricanAmericans were not appointed to the actual Presidential Cabinet at this time, never
before had African-Americans held such positions of authority within the Executive
Branch.
4. Ever since they had received their emancipation and the right to vote, AfricanAmericans had been major supporters of the Republican Party, the “Party of
Lincoln.” However, during the Great Depression, there was a remarkable change as
their support shifted their allegiance to the northern wing of Roosevelt’s Democratic
Party, even though that party’s southern wing had been responsible for
implementing many of the racist policies effecting African-Americans at this time. In
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the presidential election of 1936, Roosevelt received 76% of the African-Americans
vote.
5. Eleanor Roosevelt was seen by many as the New Deal's most consistent champion of
civil rights for blacks, working closely with Walter White of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People to enact antilynching legislation that her
husband hesitated to back, and lobbying for integration within the armed forces and
defense industries. In 1939 she resigned her membership in the Daughters of the
American Revolution when that body refused to allow the African-American soprano
Marian Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall in Washington.
6. In 1935, President Roosevelt established the National Youth Administration (NYA)
within the WPA to employ people between the ages of 18 and 25. Unlike the CCC, the
NYA would employ both men and women in roughly equal numbers.
7. John Collier (1884–1968) of the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs introduced the Indian
New Deal in June 1934, a program that dramatically changed the course of U.S.
Indian policy. Instead of forcing Indians to blend into U.S. society, the new policy
provided increased funding for economic development of tribes, promoted
continued Indian traditions, and supported tribal governments.
8. In 1936, Roosevelt established the NYA Division of Negro Affairs and appointed
Mary McLeod Bethune to head it. Bethune was now the highest-ranking African
American in government. She had power, and she would use it. In 1937, she told the
Kentucky Negro Educational Association that “the NYA has dispelled the thick and
oppressive clouds of despair under which Negro youth has long struggled until they
now can see through the rift the blue sky of hope and promise.”The NYA continued
until 1943. During its tenure, it employed 300,000 African-American youth, slightly
more than 10% of all its employees. They were paid the same and given the same
educational and training opportunities as white participants.
9. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) launched the Federal Writers’ Project to
employ white-collar workers left jobless by the Great Depression and to create a
comprehensive guide to the states, cities, and regions of the United States. The
Federal Writers’ Project gathered information on American life and interviews with
“ordinary” Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds. The bulk of interviews,
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articles, and notes contained in this collection paint a portrait of African-American
life in South Carolina. These interviews with former slaves, notes on folklore, and
articles on prominent African Americans and African-American organizations were
compiled at the height of the Project in 1936 and 1937. Though they are products of
their times, these materials provide us with one of the richest sources of information
on African-American life in South Carolina at the time.
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“The New Deal was a success for women and minorities.”
OPPOSE Data Sheet
1. Major New Deal programs established in 1933 offered little opportunity to black
Americans: Regional wage rates established by the National Recovery
Administration (NRA) did not cover many black occupations, such as farm laborers
and domestic helpers. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), created
to bring economic relief to the nation's farmers, paid farmers to cut back crop
production in hopes of increasing market prices. Since 40 percent of all black
workers made their living as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration (AAA) acreage reduction hit blacks hard. White
landlords could make more money by leaving land untilled than by putting land
back into production. As a result, the AAA's policies forced more than 100,000
blacks off the land in 1933 and 1934.
2. Many New Deal programs implemented discriminatory hiring programs. The
National Recovery Administration (NRA), for example, not only gave whites the first
opportunity at jobs, but also authorized separate pay scales for blacks and whites.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) barred blacks from skilled positions,
management, and higher-paying construction jobs. Because of discrimination by
local administrators, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrolled few young
black men to work on conservation projects.
3. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), even though it had in place a nondiscriminatory hiring policy, did not hire many African-Americans. White
supervisors in the South simply refused to hire them. When the program did hire
blacks, they would house them in camps separate from white workers.
4. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a major New Deal program that hired
unskilled laborers to develop public works projects, did hire both blacks and whites
but African-Americans, on average, still only composed about 10% of those
employed by the WPA. Unemployment rates during this time were, on average, 4 to
6 times hire for African-Americans than whites.
5. The WPA and CCC, along with a few other New Deal programs, did a better job of
hiring African Americans. Unfortunately, the WPA focused mainly on hiring men. It
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offered comparatively few jobs to women and made eligibility more difficult for
women. Thus, many women during this time were forced to remain in the home, and
when they eventually did find work, it was often low-skilled domestic work.
6. The Federal Housing Authority practiced discrimination in its relief efforts by
refusing to guarantee mortgages to African-Americans who wanted to buy homes in
white neighborhoods.
7. For Mexican-Americans, the New Deal programs offered limited relief assistance,
because many Mexican American families did not have a permanent address, a
standard requirement of the programs. The crop reduction program promoted by
the Agricultural Adjustment Administration cost many farm laborers their jobs.
8. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) and social security programs, by
exempting domestic service and unskilled labor from minimum wage and
participatory provisions, eliminated nearly 60 percent of African-Americans from
benefits. When the jobs of African Americans were brought under the provisions of
the NRA in southern textile firms, employers often reclassified such jobs and
removed them from coverage of the higher wage code.
9. It was only after the Great Depression, at the advent of World War II, that women
began to find meaningful employment outside the home and domestic industries.
Droves of women were hired to work on the line in factories after many of the male
workers would had gone off to fight in the war.
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Name:_____________
POSITION SHEET
Directions:
1. In the appropriate column, list any arguments from your data sheet that you feel will help
your case, and match your argument with the appropriate evidence. You will use this sheet
for both rounds
2. Also use this sheet to make ay notes of the arguments and evidence the opposing group
presents during their time, as well as to write down any clarifying questions you may have
for the opposing group.
Support
Argument
Oppose
Evidence
Argument
Evidence
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Argument
Evidence
Argument
Evidence
POSITION SHEET (Back)
• Notes: Use this space to make a note of any arguments/evidence the other group
presents during their time.
Support
Oppose
Argument
Evidence
Argument
Evidence
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• Clarifying Questions?
SUPPORT
OPPOSE
Name:_________
CONSENSUS
Most Convincing Arguments
Least Convincing Arguments
Briefly summarize your group’s position on this issue, including the argument(s)/evidence that
led to this position.
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Were there any points of group disagreement? If so, what?